himself. reuters columnist, "vanity fair" contributing editor bethany mclean, thank you for your time. ththththththththththththththththththththththththththth >> jennifer: i'm jennifer granholm. tonight in "the war room," debate number three. offers americans a glimpse into the future. which on the republican side looks an awful lot like the past. >> still have to have enough ships to have a foot precipitation to keep sea lanes open. >> jennifer: hear him well. we have a whole trunk full. all right. maybe the romney/ryan naval solution isn't quite that antiquated. still, they say the darnedest things, don't they? as for us, time to batten down the hatches.

there will be giants to slay! >> jennifer: well, at last night's debate, mitt romney did seem kind of hard-pressed to come up with any real criticism of the obama administration's foreign policy positions. as our own john fuglesang here at current tv, he put it so wonderfully, it was as if romney were introducing the me, too doctrine. so how much does mitt romney support the president's foreign policy? well, let me count the ways. he agrees with the president's proposed 2014 withdrawal from afghanistan. he agrees with putting sanctions on iran. and he agrees with the president's handling of the iraq war. and the drone strikes and

targeted killings in pakistan. but one place the candidates do diverge is on spending. here's what that looks like when you put the two plans side by side. president obama would honor the department of defense's request that defense spending be 3.3% of gross domestic product and keep the funding stable over the next decade. mitt romney on the other hand, he would bump that up to 4%. so that's where you get that huge $2 trillion increase over ten years which by the way the military has not even asked for as the president has said. a "new york times" op-ed in august called romney's plan -- get this, force-feeding the pentagon. which might be how you make foie gras but it is not cost-effective government.

here's the kicker. romney cannot explain where the money would come from but he does have a lot of ideas about where it would go which is mostly to the navy. mitt romney wants to build 60 more ships over the next four years even though the defense department is actually only asking for about half that many. and mitt romney also claimed last night that our navy is the smallest that it's been since 1917. which politifact rated a pants on fire lie. in 1916, 1917, we had 11% of the world's naval power and now america is up to 50% of the world's naval power. the president of course, didn't let romney's slow pitch go by without swinging at it and in fact, he hit it right out of the park. >> obama: you mention the navy, for example. we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. governor, we also have fewer

horses and -- because the nature of the military has changed. we have aircraft carriers where planes land on them. the question is not a game of battleship where we're counting ships, it is what our capabilities are. >> jennifer: zing! that was very nicely done, mr. president. and joining me now from new york is general wesley clark. he's the former nato commander. he's a campaign adviser to president obama and general clark, it is so great to have you here inside "the war room" tonight. thanks for joining us. >> great to be with you governor. >> jennifer: all right so general, i would like to get you to take a listen to the president in the debate last night. describing how he came up with his own defense budget and then taking a jab at mitt romney. take a listen. >> obama: what i did was work with our joint chiefs of staff to think about what are we going to need in the future to make sure we are safe. that's the budget that we put forward.

but what you can't do is spend $2 trillion in additional military spending that the military's not asking for. >> jennifer: so, general if the pentagon hasn't asked for that $2 trillion increase that romney is proposing, where would that money actually go? republicans like to use the phrase waste, fraud and abuse. obviously there is always potentially some overspending. where would an extra $2 trillion go? >> no telling. look if you ask people to spend more money they'll find a way to do it. that's particularly true in the united states armed forces. you know one of governor romney's close defense advisers is former navy secretary john lehman. he was ronald reagan's navy secretary. he coined the phrase "600 ship navy" and we never quite got there but he took every penny he could get to build more bottoms. so you know, governor romney's

being fed ideas that are old ideas. not new ideas. and i think this is the general criticism that i hope the american people will understand it. when the president said he has a foreign policy from the 1980s a social policy of the 1950s and an economic policy from the 1920s, i think the president hit that right out of the park because that's actually what the romney campaign message has consisted of. >> jennifer: i totally agree. i loved that line. it was fantastic. of course, there was an awful lot of discussion, of course, on foreign policy. and both candidates pledged to remove troops from afghanistan by 2014. but i'm curious this is something we've talked about here in "the war room." does the so-called green on blue violence, does that indicate we're not going to be ready to leave by 2014? do we have other options? >> i think what it means is that we've got to tighten up and the

afghans have to do this themselves. the procedures for vetting who joins their forces. we have to look at our procedures as how we interface with them. it doesn't necessarily impact 2014. but you know, jennifer, one of the things that struck me from last night's debate was i had heard for months, governor romney talk about how much tougher he was going to be than obama. and criticizing obama because democrats are always supposed to be weak and so forth. and yet when it came right down to putting hills cards on -- his cards on the table key do it. he backed away from it and fell in on the president's positions. that says two things. that says number one he doesn't have the real alternative foreign policy that he claimed to have. but number two it says to our allies what does he really think? what are his positions? you know, he made a big pitch about being reliable and consistent and so forth. he undercut his whole aim in that debate. now, i know why he did it. he didn't want to leave any edge out there that could be seized on and criticized.

he wanted to be a soft and nice and clean as he could be so the women's vote would come his way. he didn't want to talk hawkish but you know, that's being a politician. that's not being a leader. he was a politician. he was a politician last night. we have a president who is commander in chief and a leader. a huge difference. >> jennifer: so interesting because if his whole rhetoric which has been a bit bombastic and bellicose and the criticism that he's levied against the president is that the president has been weak. what you're saying is that in that debate last night and in the wishy-washiness of his positions, that he is actually the one that would damage the u.s.'s reputation for being weak. >> absolutely. no one knows what he stands for. first of all the positions he's taken that were hawkish positions, most of them didn't make sense. probably the advisor said wait a minute, governor, you can't say

that on stage against the president. he'll take you to pieces on it. like the ideas of giving syrian arms to the rebels when you don't know who they are. romney backed off. but he's laid the ground work for trying to be much more hawkish because 70% of his advisers come from that camp. that's who's whispering in his ear. we don't know where he stands but what he projected last night was vacillation and uncertainty and he projected exactly the opposite of the kind of resolve and consistency that he claimed was necessary. that's the consistency barack obama has shown. >> jennifer: i think it is so interesting you say this because i actually wrote a piece this morning on not so much what was said but the way it was said last night. and when you compare the style of the two men the president came across as certain and sure and strong and clear-eyed and

mitt romney looked nervous. he was perspiring. it looked as though he did not -- he was completely unsure of his ground. i wonder what our -- both enemies and allies look at, if they watch it. i'm sure they do watch it. >> sure they watch it. >> jennifer: that body language speaks volumes. a picture is worth a thousand words, is it not? >> it is. i think they know what they're getting if they were to get a mitt romney. a, a guy who doesn't have any experience. b, someone who is advised by the same people who devised and implemented a failed foreign policies of george w. bush. so i think that it's a trouble sign. that's why if you talk to people overseas they're so uniformly hoping that barack obama will be re-elected. it makes a whole lot of difference about keeping the country safe.

>> jennifer: sure. >> that's why it's lot of confidence in the president and his leadership. >> jennifer: let me ask you a debate-related question. the subject of drones came up. this is a progressive network. there has been some criticism of the president using drones and drones now make up a third of all military aircraft. and according to "the washington post," we're about to spend another $40 billion or so over the next ten years on them. i want people to hear from you obviously very respected person, why are drones a wise use of our resources? >> first of all we call them drones but they're unmanned aerial vehicles that are controlled by human beings who have the visibility of the sights, just the way they would if they were sitting in an airplane. so it's true. we could go back to conscription and raise a draft army. we could deploy millions of people around the world if we

could afford it and if they could survive there and try to do the job that we can do with a few hundred pilots of these unmanned aerial vehicles netted together with great intelligence able to look from the sky and strike with pretty good precision. occasionally, innocent people are killed but there is a strong procedure to try to safeguard against that. in war nothing's perfect. and as long as force is used, there is always the risk that innocent people will die as well as the intended combatants but we've done a pretty good job of this. i have to commend the president. i mean he said he would go after al-qaeda. and he used the technology at hand. that's the right technology. look when you're in war you're not seeking a fair fight. you're seeking to finish the fight on your terms. it's not about hey let's go man know amman know put your dukes

up. these are about people hiding and plotting to come after and attack americans abroad or at home or to destabilize friendly governments to further the range of aiming at the united states. and we can either wait for that threat to emerge and develop and come right at us or we can take them out in an effective way minimum risk. >> jennifer: without risking american lives too. that's the thing. >> it works. >> jennifer: 21st century tool. all right. one last quick question for you before we sign off here. former secretary of state colin powell endorsed the president in 2008 but he has not endorsed him yet in his re-election. do you think he's going to endorse him? >> oh, gosh, i couldn't predict that. >> jennifer: i was hoping you would give me an inside scoop. >> i haven't talked to general powell about it. general powell is a republican. he's an african-american. he's been a tremendous military leader and a great symbol and great personality and leader in

this country. he is a friend i tremendously admire him. >> jennifer: hurry up and persuade him general clark. call him up and say now is the time. >> when it is all said and done, jennifer colin powell is one vote. he does vote in virginia. he's just one vote. the american people will turn out in large numbers in places like virginia and ohio and other battleground states and really make their voices heard. because we know this election is going to be about the ground game. i was in ohio last week. i know you were out. and it is about voter suppression by the other side in ohio. i think it is outrageous. if you tell people abroad that american elections are decided by keeping people from voting, they're sick! >> jennifer: it is amazing. >> they don't want to believe it happens in this country. >> jennifer: well, we've been talking about that a lot on this show. i really appreciate you coming on with your perspective on the

great debate from last night. that's former nato commander general wesley clark. and coming up after the break we're going to hear what team romney has to say about last night's debate. his foreign policy adviser o'brien will enter "the war room." plus even with all of his responsibilities, president obama takes time out of his busy schedule to warn americans about the growing danger of... romnesia. and later what's fast becoming a weekly ritual, mitt romney is inserting himself into the auto bailout and i correct the record again and so our dance continues. it is tuesday night in "the war room." the fun is jusususususususususususususususususususususususususus

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>> obama: governor romney, i'm glad that you recognize that al-qaeda was a threat. because a few months ago when you were asked what the biggest geopolitical threat facing america was russia. in the 1980s or now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the cold war has been over for 20 years. >> jennifer: that was one of president obama's sharper barbs from last night's debate with governor mitt romney. as we talked about earlier the two men's foreign policies really don't differ very much and while there's no denying that there are similarities, there's also plenty that they don't agree on. let's listen to this clip of governor romney. >> romney: then the president began what i've called an apology tour. of going to various nations in

the middle east and criticizing america. i think they look at that and saw weakness. >> jennifer: now our next guest says that mitt romney's "apology tour" accusation was actually the most important part of the debate. robert o'brien is a foreign policy adviser to governor romney. he comes to us tonight from los angeles. he's a partner with the fox law firm and he served in several high profile roles in u.s. state departments and in the united nations. welcome back inside "the war room." >> governor, it is great to be here. thanks for having me. >> jennifer: you bet. you tweeted about this. why was that the most important exchange of the debate especially since the fact checkers say president obama did not go on an apology tour. >> when you look at the cairo speech and the transcript, you can say he went overseas to the heart of the arab world and said the reason that there's trouble here in the arab world is because of colonialism and because of the cold war being

used as proxies and he talked about palestinians being humiliated by our ally, israel. i think what governor romney is saying is that in a romney administration, we're going to go back to american leadership. we're going to go back to the kind of leadership that a democrat, john kennedy talked about in his inaugural speech. we don't hear let the word go forth from here to pay for the defense and liberty. that was in john f. kennedy's speech and that's what ronald reagan talked about when he talked about the shining city on the hill. >> jennifer: it sounded like what the president sounded like at the debate. he was very clear and very strong -- i'm sure you have a different opinion of course about it. but i think that the president was extremely clear last night that we would stand by our allies. make no mistake about it. don't you think he was clear? >> well, what the president had a good debate last night. no taking that away from him. he had a good debate at hofstra

university. i was back for that in new york. he's been very aggressive. what he's done in his debate is attempted to rile up the democrat base after having had such a poor debate in denver. i congratulate him from coming back from denver. when you look at his actions when it comes to taking the missile defense sites out of poland the czech republic, refusing to meet with netanyahu and going on "the view" instead he's been referring to the faulkland islands as the malvenus. he's put a lot of daylight between us and our allies. they know that mitt romney will have a different view of those relationships. >> jennifer: just to be very clear about it though. he never "apologized" and everybody who has looked at this from an objective perspective whether it's politifact who gave him a four pants on fire and four pinocchios, every one of them has said that that is

just not true. i just want to put that on the record. but i do want to get to the next question. take a listen. >> obama: governor, the problem is that on a whole range of issues whether it's the middle east whether it's afghanistan whether it's iraq, whether it is now iran, you've been all over the map. >> jennifer: so isn't it a little bit confusing that your guy seemed to agree so many times last night with the president's positions and hasn't really differentiated himself from what the president is doing although his language has been very strong. >> you know, i was surprised by that attack because look, we've had a whole campaign season full of attack ads on both sides and there's been a lot of differentiation. but there are some things we agree on. and governor romney has consistently agreed we should be out of afghanistan in 2014.

we've got some disagreements. the governor has disagreements with the way the war is being prosecuted. there is a consensus and agreement. that's not a bad thing. the american people are glad to see when there are areas that democrats and republicans can come together and agree on. when you were governor of michigan, you reached across the aisle and you got things done because you had to in a state government with republicans. and that doesn't mean you abandon your principles and meant you reached across the aisle. when i was in government, my last job was a rule of law program in afghanistan helping to train afghan women to go into the judiciary or become prosecutors. it was started by condy rice and the day that secretary clinton was sworn in, she heard about the program and she asked me to stay on for another couple of years because it was a worthy program. it didn't mean that secretary clinton agreed with everything secretary rice did but we have to find areas of common ground and i think that -- >> jennifer: i totally agree with you on that. >> up ten points with independents because they're seeing that. >> jennifer: there's no doubt

there needs to be cooperation. there needs to be common ground which is difficult to find in washington, d.c. often when people sign pledges not to cooperate with others but glenn beck just issued a tweet yesterday saying -- after he was watching the debate saying i'm glad to know that mitt romney agrees with obama so much. no really. why vote? so romney has spent an awl lot of time trying to show there is daylight between he and the president. and last night it seemed to totally mush together which is what the president was saying. that was clearly a strategy on the part of the romney campaign. perhaps to go after the independents as you have suggested. i'm assuming there was a conversation before a lot of conversation before he got out there that he would not, for example, punch back on libya. that he would really just appear to agree in large measure with much of what the president is doing on foreign approximately. on foreign policy. >> part of that is beyond our

control. as you know, having participated in big debates it depends on what the questioner asks. there are real differences between the governor and the president. certainly, on the russian reset. on issues with china and some of that was covered. on the issue of the navy which general clark spoke about earlier. so there are real differences between the candidates but there are some areas where we can get along. look we've taken sniping from the left in this campaign. we've taken sniping from the right in this campaign. and that tells me -- that's why i think the governor is doing so well among independents and the undecideds are breaking toward them because they want somebody who can go to washington and exercise leadership. reach across the aisle. if there are areas where we can agree with the democrats i think that's great for america. i'm glad to see there were areas of agreement between the president and the governor. >> jennifer: robert o'brien, thanks for joining us. i want to say i think it is very interesting strategy on the part of mitt romney to make such a

last-minute shift after -- during the third debate to all of a sudden shift to the middle. one would have expected that after the primary was over. but throughout much of this general election, he has moved to the right. and here we are. up next, 14 days left. he has moved. the battleship to the ground game. who can motivate. who wants it more? this is "the war room." it is only on current tv.

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>> jennifer: 14 days until election day. we're moving into a whole new phase. the obama war room is making its closing argument. ads in new hampshire virginia, north carolina florida ohio, wisconsin and colorado, those are them, shows a positive change in tone.

>> obama: there's no quit in america. you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up 41%. home values, rising. our auto industry, back. our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet. but we've made real progress. the last thing we should do is turn back now. >> jennifer: i love it! nice uplifting note. it reminds us sort of the ronald reagan morning in america campaign from 1984. watch. >> more people are buying new homes. and our new families can have confidence in the future. america today is prouder and stronger and better. we don't want to return to where we were four short years ago. >> jennifer: here in 2012, of course the campaigns are focusing their attention solely on the swing states. today, president obama campaigned in delray beach florida.

he joined vice president biden then in ohio. tomorrow, he's going to be holding rallies in davenport iowa then denver, colorado. and then it is off to los angeles to appear on the "the tonight show" and then he's going to finish with a las vegas, nevada rally. mitt romney and paul ryan, they were together today in henderson, nevada and in morrison colorado. tomorrow romney will be back in nevada for a rally in reno. and then it is on to cedar rapids iowa. joining me now is democratic strategist donnie fowler who has worked on the last four democratic presidential campaigns. he runs his own firm, dog patch strategies. and from new york, keli goff, political correspondent for the root web site. so great to you have both back inside "the war room." >> good to be here. >> jennifer: keli, i want to start by not taking you on the campaign trail with some late, breaking news which is that richard mourdock who is the

person who's running for senate in indiana, he had unseated dick lugar and he's running against democrat joe donnelly, one of the potential pickup seats. they had a debate tonight. in that debate, richard mourdock sounded like todd akin saying that he believes that pregnancy from rape is something that god intended to happen. is this -- does this mean that indiana ends up making that senate seat go to the democrats? >> i can only imagine that indiana must be lacking in basic cable because clearly he's never seen the movie "groundhog day" because we keep seeing the same scenery played over and over again with the extremists making these extreme or crazy as some might consider comments about rape. let's be very clear governor. this is not too far off the mark from what paul ryan indicated in an interview you when he was asked specifically, do you think

there will be exceptions? i will carry forth with the romney policy but i don't think the method of conception changes -- should change the issue. i'm paraphrasing but i'm not that far off the mark. going into this debate, polls had donnelly up. so last time i checked women who believe that rape is something that is not what god intended or what have you also vote and women voters are going to help decide this election. i think that this could be the fatal blow for the mourdock campaign. >> jennifer: it is very interesting even though indiana is not a swing state, this issue about women is something that they are pushing in the swing states. >> can i -- can i say something too, let's not forget the obama campaign won indiana last time around. that's a little different conversation. they did win it. even though it is not as much in play this time around. >> jennifer: donnie, so the obama campaign is launching with a positive ad. the romney campaign, even though you might have heard his adviser

talking about the debate last night, making romney sound a lot softer like he's ready to reach across the aisle their super pac supporting governor romney is on the air with this. take a listen. >> america can create the jobs we need. and leave our children better off. but we never go forward by settling for the status quo. we need to make a change. barack obama's economy soo working. -- isn't working. demand better. >> jennifer: talk quickly donnie about how positive versus negative tone at the end of a campaign. is it -- two weeks out still too far to just go positive? >> assertive american voters are already casting early ballots so it is not too early to make the closing argument. traditionally, they make a closing argument in a positive way. the problem is seen by romney's decision to run negative ads romney hasn't made the case to fire obama. if he can't make the case for

the american people to fire obama, it doesn't matter how good romney looks they still want to keep the president we've got. >> jennifer: exactly right. keli, the early voting is something that's really being pushed in a lot of african-american churches. i know your web site covers african-american issues. there are many latino and african-american churches that are organizing souls to the polls, caravans to encourage early voting. for viewers who don't know what that is, do you think it is an effective strategy? >> on sundays church services get buses together to go vote. they would make it part of something that the community did. the african-american church, going back to the civil rights movement. that continues through the early voting which to tell you -- to answer your question about how effective it is, the reason we know it is effective is because it is one of the things that was targeted in some of the voter laws in florida trying to make it difficult to vote on sundays so that tells me that obviously someone thought it was a little bit too effective if you will.

so look, current data showing that the obama campaign appears to have an edge on early voting. you know we'll see if that trend keeps up. it is very important for the african-american voter turnout to the campaign. really quickly i interviewed emanuel clever, head of the congressional black caucus. he said if the black vote goes down by 2% to 3 percentage points, the president will lose the election. that tells you how significant black voter turnout is and the obama campaign knows it. >> jennifer: donnie, let's talk about it. obviously the african-american community is hugely important. the campaigns are doing massive on the ground outreach. this goes into the early voting, get people to the polls et cetera. describe the best operation that you have seen. what does that look like in terms of getting people out? >> this is it. barack obama has produced the best operation four years ago and this year that we've ever seen in american policy -- politics. you have to raise money.

you have to have the right message and do mobilization. and we're in the position now where the only thing that matters is mobilization. they raise the money. they've got the message. what does mobilization mean? it means three things. what kind of staff and offices do you have? obama has three times as many offices in most of the swing states as romney. >> jennifer: right. obama campaign is 106 field offices in florida compared to romney's 47. >> 750 office nationally compared to romney's 283. so it is a significant money and office and staff. then you have to say how many contacts have you made? how many voters have you spoken to? early polls have asked a very simple question. in ohio, have you heard from the romney campaign? have you heard from the obama campaign? 36% of ohio voters said they've heard from the obama campaign. only 29% have heard from romney. so obama's talking to more people in the critical battleground of ohio and lastly,

you need early -- we said early voting. that was contacts. they need early voting. numbers are good. so far about a quarter to a third of swing state voters have voted. obama's democrats -- have turned in about twice as many ballots as republicans. this is not over. >> jennifer: they'll be fighting for every single one. >> they're doing all of this contact. the numbers and what the voters are saying who they're hearing from, they're not showing it so far. >> jennifer: i was in florida this weekend. unbelievable operation. donnie fowler and keli goff, thank you guys both so much for coming inside "the war room." up next, much like the bird who continually glides head first into my pane glass window, mitt romney again tries to amend his position on the auto bailout. and frankly enough is enough! that's next and it is something you'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'u'

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>> jennifer: last night, governor romney and president obama had this exchange about the auto bailout. >> romney: i said they need these companies they need to go through a managed bankruptcy and in that process, they can get government help and government guarantees but they need to go through bankruptcy to get rid of excess cost and the debt burden they built up. and fortunately -- >> obama: governor romney, that's not what you said. governor romney, you did not say you would provide government help. >> romney: i said we would provide guarantees. that is what was able to allow the companies to go through bankruptcy, to come out of bankruptcy. under no circumstances would i do anything other than to help this industry get on its feet and the idea that -- has been suggested i would liquidate the industry. of course not.

of course not. >> obama: let's check the records. let's check the records. >> romney: i would liquidate the industry. >> obama: governor, people in detroit don't forget. >> jennifer: i can't stand it! the president is right. we don't forget. mitt romney has the nerve to argue that his plan for the industry and his now-famous "new york times" op-ed piece let detroit go bankrupt, he has the nerve to say his plan was the plan that the obama administration eventually followed which was a managed bankruptcy but in that 2008 piece, governor romney said that the money to keep g.m. and chrysler alive during bankruptcy is what he said, should come from the private sector. possibly with government providing guarantees for post-bankruptcy filing. you know what that means? you know what a guarantee is? the government would make good on a loan should the automakers default. but the problem was no one was loaning! there wasn't a loan to guarantee because nobody was stepping up.

what kills me about this is that mitt romney who is a money guy he knows this! all too well. but he's hoping that we're not going to catch him. because there was no bank willing to help the automakers other than the u.s. government. no private sector entity was lending during the crash. no private sector entity would step up. none. you cannot guarantee a loan that doesn't happen. i knew this. bush knew this. the bush administration stepped up. president obama knew it. everybody knew it. even this guy. bob lutz. he's a note and outspoken republican. he was the vice-chairman at general motors during the auto rescue. he's considered running for office as a conservative republican and even bob lutz said that no bank would help. the banks he said were even more broke than we were. who had the money? he told that to the free press in february. loan guarantees, he said, don't do any good if the banks don't have any money. and as steven ratner who is head

of the auto task force, he said in an op-ed not one would be lender not one had the slightest interest in financing those companies on any terms. and without financing the auto companies, their suppliers and everyone reliant upon that entire industry would have shut down and that means a million jobs. i think you know how i feel about president obama stepping in to finance the bailout the lender of last resort and save the auto industry and those million jobs. mitt romney knows about bankruptcy. lord knows he's taken enough companies through it. he knows that you need a substantial lender to keep a business going while it restructures. he knows this. but he continues to lie about it. and to me, that is exhibit a b and c of why he cannot, must not be our next president! his lack of integrity his outright deception has to

disqualify him from occupying the office. he's going to do anything and say anything to win. for the sake of the nation, people quick, get me to an early voting site! coming up, someone who i'm sure feels as strongly as i do about this as i do. someone who was there in the heat of the battle. stay wititititititititititititititititititititititititititit

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>> obama: i refuse to walk away from those workers. i bet on those workers. i refuse to walk away from those jobs. i understood americans can compete. i wasn't about to let detroit go bankrupt or toledo go bankrupt or lordstown go bankrupt. i bet on american workers i bet on american manufacturing. i would do it again because that bet has paid off for ohio and for america. in a big way. >> jennifer: yes!

president obama. in dayton, ohio, today he made his bet that he saved jobs and coming to us tonight is a man who knows a lot about the american auto industry and fighting for its survival under both the bush and the obama administration congressman gary peters representing the place where chrysler is headquartered. he comes to us from the heart of the auto industry, detroit michigan. gary peters, welcome back inside "the war room." by the way go, tigers! >> absolutely, governor. great to be with you once again. >> jennifer: all right. so you were there when the meltdown happened. >> yes. >> jennifer: i'm sure you heard what mitt romney said last night at the debate. tell us was private sector financing available? >> absolutely not. i tell you i wanted to jump out of my chair when i heard that. it grinds me so much. as you mentioned in the earlier segment, it wasn't there. wall street was frozen. finances were frozen. in fact, i will never forget sitting in chrysler headquarters with mr. nardelli, the ceo of

chrysler at the time, we had a meeting, a lot of his key folks there. he said -- he said congressman let me be very clear. we are heading toward bankruptcy. there isn't money available. we can't get the debtor in possession financing in the private sector. he said i am literally about four weeks away from liquidating this company if i do not get a loan from the federal government. if that doesn't happen, we liquidate and i just immediately had visions. here i am at the chrysler headquarters this, massive structure, i could just have the vision of padlocks on the doors grass growing in the parking lot. as i looked around all of the faces, people were like -- their lives were going to be shattered. they were a matter of weeks away from that happening. >> jennifer: gary, you and i were in the middle of huge community meetings, our unemployment rate was 14.50%. we did not know whether we were going to survive because everything was melting down. at that moment when things were melting down, of course mitt

romney comes out with his op-ed which was like a stake right into our heart. tell people where michigan would be right now where your district would be if the auto bailout hadn't happened? what would the unemployment rate be? >> it would have been absolutely catastrophic. chrysler headquarters, several thousand people there. we have tens of thousands but it is not just about chrysler or general motors, as you know. it would have been all of the auto suppliers and the auto dealers, it would have been catastrophic in this region. people's lives would have been shattered and when you look at where we are because the president took a very bold step. it was not very popular what he did. he took a very bold step. and it has been an incredible success. that chrysler headquarters that i was fearful would be shut down and padlocked is now in a position where they need additional real estate because it is full. they're hiring people. they need more real estate. they're growing the economy is starting to come back and the contrast is just so dramatic and to have mitt romney trying to take credit for something that he was clearly opposed to and

when he said he was a car guy that really -- just really made me angry because he proved he is not a car guy. he was not there when detroit needed him. when the american auto industry needed him. when american manufacturing needed mitt romney. he said tough luck. i'm not going to be there. >> jennifer: it is so incredible to me. it drives me crazy -- i think that romney's opposition to the bailout, especially coming from michigan and his failure to tell the truth about whether private sector financing was available because bain capital certainly didn't step up, i think that failure, that disingenueness should disqualify him from being president. do you agree? >> i agree. but of course, this is a pattern. we see him constantly changing positions. constantly saying whatever he has to do to get elected. i think the president did a great job last night of constantly calling him out saying wait a minute. where did this position come from? he's trying to rewrite history.

he's trying to change his opinions to meet the -- wherever the polls are going right now. that's not leadership. that's not presidential. that's why we have to re-elect president obama. >> jennifer: give me a quick snapshot of good news so as a result of that bailout what is happening with general motors and chrysler and michigan? >> well, there are actually -- they're adding -- tens of thousands of jobs added by both of those companies. the auto suppliers are doing very well. i have regular meetings with auto suppliers. i represent more auto suppliers than any other member of congress. i regularly meet with them. and in my most recent meeting skied them what is your biggest challenge. they said the biggest challenge is finding enough people to hire. that's a big change from where we were before when these companies were laying off people. we didn't know if they would survive. now they've got more jobs -- openings than they have people. so it is an incredible success. >> jennifer: i love it! that's such great news!

congressman gary peters who's got his own race like every member of congress does, we're hoping that your race is not going to be even a question, right? >> we're working hard. i'm very confident. >> jennifer: gary, thank you so much for joining us inside "the war room." up next -- >> thank you governor. >> jennifer: you bet. team romney tries out some new campaign event music

♪ >> jennifer: tonight's mitt moment comes to us from the romney campaign rally. it was about two hours ago at the red rocks amphitheatre outside of denver. country music favorite rodney adkins played his hit song "it's america." ♪ it's a high school prom ♪ ♪ it's a springsteen song ♪ ♪ it's a man on the moon ♪ >> you heard that right. it's a song at a romney rally. idolizing democrat springsteen who is campaigning for president obama last week. plus the song immortalized chevy. which would be bankrupt if mitt romney had his way! that's two more reasons to always listen closely at a romney rally! so thanks for joining